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Clapper: 'Disparagement' of intel cause for concern

CNN: Clapper was speaking at a hearing on global cyberthreats that focused almost exclusively on Moscow's alleged hacking during the presidential elections. "We assess that only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorized the recent election-focused data thefts and disclosures, based on the scope and sensitivity of the targets," Clapper, Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Marcel Lettre and the Commander of US Cyber Command, Michael Rogers, wrote in a joint statement to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Clapper said at the hearing that there was a line between critical thinking about assessment and undermining those gathering the intelligence. "I think there is an important distinction here between healthy skepticism which policymakers -- to include policymaker No. 1 -- should always have on intelligence, but I think there's a difference between skepticism and disparagement," he said. And he noted that some intelligence agents die in service for their country. "You only need to walk into the lobby and look at the stars on the wall or the NSA and the number of intelligence people who have paid the ultimate price for their country," he said.

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